Delegates take a break from sessions at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. / Jason Alden Bloomberg

by David Callaway, USA TODAY

by David Callaway, USA TODAY

Millennials are playing a larger role at Davos this year, not only attending sessions as university-based guests, but actively participating.

One was Zach Sims, a 23-year-old entrepreneur who dropped out of Columbia University to co-found a company called Codecademy, which offers online courses for people who want or need to learn to start coding in their work.

Sitting on a panel I moderated on whether higher education these days is worth the cost, Sims argued that the entire university structure needs to be shaken to the core to allow for new technologies and new skills.

The panel also had several experts in the field, including Angel Gurria, Secretary-General for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It debated the future of the university system in the U.S. and abroad, with particular focus on the rise of online courses.

While the panel was optimistic that change will come to higher education, both in cost and structure, the audience of about 250 people was a bit more impatient. Many of the questions came from European students in law school or some form of higher education. One from a Yale student attending the conference as a reporter.

At the end, I mentioned that most technological change involves massive disruption. Bubbles, like the trillion-dollar student loan bubble in the U.S., tend to burst, not slowly deflate. I asked the audience whether it expected gradual evolution in the next decade in education or revolutionary, wrenching change. Like all millennials, they favored revolution.